CLEVELAND, Ohio – An East Cleveland police officer walked into a fly-filled garage linked to accused serial killer Michael Madison on July 19, seeking to find the source of a stench that alarmed neighbors and worried authorities.

Williams cut through six layers of bags, and authorities later recognized the remains of a woman’s body, according to testimony and a videotape played Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Police arrested Madison, 36, a convicted sex offender and a marijuana peddler, who lived in the apartment building off Hayden Avenue and used the portion of the garage where the bag was found. Police later found two other bodies, wrapped similarly in plastic bags.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors and Madison’s attorneys argued Monday over whether police needed a search warrant to enter the garage. Defense attorneys David Grant and Christine Julian say a search warrant was needed, and they argued that all evidence obtained after the initial search should be thrown out of Madison’s trial July 21.

Madison is charged with aggravated murder and kidnapping in the women’s deaths. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Judge Nancy McDonnell is expected to rule on the matter in next few weeks.

Prosecutor Timothy McGinty and his office said police did nothing wrong, as they went to the apartments to quell complaints of a foul smell. Officers testified Monday that they did not know whether they were searching for a rotted meat, a dead animal or something else.

Madison is accused of killing Angela H. Deskins, 38; Shirellda Terry, 18; and Shetisha Sheeley, 28. Their bodies were found about 125 feet from Madison’s home near Shaw and Hayden avenues.

Mikki Stovall-Brown, an employee of East Cleveland Cable Co., said the stench became so bad that she called shortly before 9 a.m. July 19, complaining of a strong odor coming from a nearby garage bay.

“It was the type of odor that made you sick,’’ Stovall-Brown said.

East Cleveland police Sgt. Jeff Williams responded to the call, and he told Brent Kirvel, an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Monday that, “I knew we had rotting flesh. The smell stays with you for hours.’’

But Williams stressed that he was unsure what caused the smell. Some residents believed it was a sewer problem.

After a half hour of attempting to reach people linked to the garage, including Madison, firefighters opened the door. Williams, the police officer, wore a video camera that captured his search.

He found a large plastic bag that was wedged between a bronze, 1983 Cutlass and the wall of the garage bay, according to the videotape. He cut through several layers of plastic bags. When authorities noticed what appeared to be a human body, they stopped and began seeking search warrants.

Prosecutors said that once police realized it was a criminal matter, and not a dog or rotted meat, they began a criminal investigation. Williams now works for Euclid police.

Authorities later identified the body as Terry’s.

They arrested Madison at his mother’s home on Chickasaw Avenue in Cleveland after a two-hour standoff with police.

In an interview with police days later, Madison admitted that he killed Sheeley, who had been missing since September 2012 and was found in a field just north of the garage where Terry’s remains were discovered, according to prosecutors’ filings. Terry had last been seen July 10.

Deskins’ remains were found in the basement of an abandoned home on East 139th Street, according to court records. The home is close to Madison’s apartment off Hayden.

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